It has been a long hard row to hoe so far, but I got a lot of the track functionality done. You can now even see your survey options for a city! Just need to build the track, and put the money logic in and I’ll have the most basic railroad game possible. Looks like time is getting short thought so I’m not confident I’ll have a playable game, but I’m going to try.
FAIL! But better than nothing.
Iron Roads Final
Tags: final
I just wanted to thank all the people that graded my unfinished game. I’m very apperciative of all the encourging comments. Many of you will be happy to know that I’ve continued to work on the game and will keep you posted! Finally, thanks to the mysterious super secret ludum dare organizers.
Tags: MrPhil
This was a though theme for me. I had lots of ideas, but I keep worrying that it would be too emotional or gruesome to be fun. My worst fear was belittling of those who are victims of domestic abuse. But, I’m moving forward with the idea that play is sometimes about experimenting with real world problems. So, I’ve decided to make an RPG. You must steer the battered woman to a successful resolution of her situation.
I’m using SilverLight, Visual Studio 2008 and Expression Blend 2.
Feedback is encouraged.
Tags: MrPhil-MLD10
I give up theme, you win. I just couldn’t keep up my motivation. The theme made it impossible for me to come up with something fun to play. I also think the RPG ideas was flawed because I couldn’t figure out how to earn xp without it becoming too gruesome.
Lesson learned: some themes just aren’t meant to be fun.
Tags: MrPhil-MLD10
I’ve decided to do a “Warm-up” game this weekend. The theme is Art Game À la Experimental Game Project I’ll be using the Flixel Flash Game Engine, my first foray into Flash.
Just thought I’d share in case anyone else wanted to join me.
Rules? We don’t need no stinking rules.
Tags: warm-up
I’m up and running for the LD this weekend. I’m going to use HaXe with FlashDevelop. I might also use Flixel but I will decide that later.
Objectives
Primary: a well polished entry
Secondary: take time to plan things out
Tertiary: a fun game
Plan
Phase 1 – Ideas
Phase 2 – Develop Game-play
Phase 3 – Polish
Sleep as needed lol
Tags: Planning
I’ve choosen an idea and did a hands-on prototype. I’m happy with it and moving to Phase 2 – Develop Gameplay. I’m keep the idea under wraps for now, but you might be able to devine it from this evidence:
MrPhil's LD16 Prototype
And, I also learned a hard lesson about playing with prototypes on the floor:
O Hia ur prototype wuz tasty
Tags: cats
Pesto Pasta with The Wire
Lunch Progress
I’m not as far along as I liked to be fuctionally, but things are still on track according to the plan. I’ve yet to come up with a name though.
Tags: foodphoto, screenshot
The instructions told me to eat the brownie first. Sort of.
Dinner Progress
Functionality has improved a lot, but I’m feeling discouraged about how much is left. I’m also feeling a bit burned out, so I’m going to take a break.
Tags: foodphoto, screenshot
Bedtime Progress
A few more steps closer, but it still isn’t fun. I’m tired now, so off to bed. Goodnight Ludum Dare.
Tags: screenshot
With 6.5 hours remaining I see no hope of finishing, much less ending up with a game that is fun. Especially because I have a dinner party, so I can’t even use the full amount of time. That’s my fault, I thought I could squeeze it in. I’ll try to remember not to next time. Maybe my idea was too big, but I also lost time because I was using a new technology (something I always do.) So, I’m always building stuff from scratch and fighting with the tech’s esoteric unexpected differences (like HaXe switch statements not needing breaks, Uhggg.) I was very happy with HaXe and think it is my new top choice for game making. Now, I need to invest time building up a toolbox (toolkit) of code to use in the future. I feel like I got further along than in past. Even though my LD12 was an actual finished and fun game, I created way more functionality this time. I think the planning and the hands-on prototype really help identify the tasks. The hands-on prototype was a very interesting experience. I am surprised by how hard it is to express a games rules. I now desire a box full of game parts to play with in the future. Not finishing is very unsatisfying, but the silver lining is I learned a lot and that is really the whole point.
Thanks Ludum Dare! Special thanks to Mike Kasprzak (PoV) Phil Hassey (philhassey) Mike Hommel (Hamumu) and Seth Robinson (mrfun) for keeping the Ludum Dare gears running so smoothly.
I’ve ponding the constraints, but haven’t had that “I know” moment yet. At this point the input constraints seem the most limiting to me.
Slowly an idea jelled for me. It’s a sort of tactical battle game. Here’s my concept drawing. The only resource is time, as the better fighters take longer to generate. The interesting part comes from the planning required because you have a build queue/factory of four guys, but can only place them in the order that they generate. Naturally the strong guys take a lot longer to build.
I’m going to use .Net and SDL.Net and I’ve gotten the startup stuff written. What boiler plate code would you recommend one create prior to the contest and publish as a library?
Ideas:
Tags: .net
Tags: motivation
